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Tropical Green Smoothie

January 22, 2015

Truth: I’ve been a little skeptical of green smoothies. The thought of drinking my greens didn’t really appeal to me. That was until I piled on frozen pineapple and banana, and a spoonful (or two) of my current love >> almond butter. I’m telling you, this smoothie is healthy wrapped up in a tropical pina colada milkshake. All with no added sugar? Yes, please!

I’ve already made it three times this week, bringing a bit of the islands to my cold winter mornings.

Frozen bananas are smoothie magic, blending up like a creamy-smooth milkshake and making a healthy drink feel like a decadent dessert. I don’t bake very often — so when bananas are looking a little too ripe on my counter, I’ll peel them, chop them up and freeze them in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet. When frozen solid, I pop them into a freezer bag for easy grabbing whenever I want a smoothie.

Frozen pineapple becomes slushy and tart-sweet when blended, and paired with bananas the duo makes a perfect base for fresh spinach. And if you haven’t given chia seeds a shot yet, smoothies are a great place to start. These little black seeds are pretty darn good for you — packed with fiber, omega-3s, calcium, magnesium. They don’t add much in the way of flavor, so they’re easy to sneak into smoothies, oatmeal, yogurt.

Oh and that almond butter? That sticky, creamy love of mine adds a subtle flavor and packs a punch in the nutrition department — helping your body absorb all the vitamins and good stuff makes drinking your greens so worth it.

Don’t let the green hue scare you! I’m not one to eat something that I don’t like, no matter how healthy. But this creamy, slushy, lightly sweet concoction, I eat it with a spoon and feel like I’m back lounging by the pool in Mexico.

This Tropical Green Smoothie tastes like a refreshing, indulgent milkshake, transporting you to the tropics with each sip. All without any added sugar!

Author: Another Root

Serves: 1

Ingredients

1 cup milk (I use unsweetened vanilla almond milk)

2 handfuls fresh spinach, about 2 cups lightly packed

1 banana, chopped and frozen

½ cup frozen pineapple

1 Tbsp almond butter

1 tsp chia seeds

¼ tsp cinnamon

Instructions

Add the ingredients to your blender in the order listed. Blend on high until smooth and all spinach pieces have been fully incorporated. You may need to scrape down the sides a bit and break apart the frozen fruit if it gets a little stuck together in the beginning.

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Comments

Sure! I usually get chopped fresh pineapple from the produce section — canned & drained would work as well. I freeze mine just because I like the slushy texture when they’re blended, but refrigerated or room temp. would work great, too!